SAN FRANCISCO — In a sense, Pat Venditte is two people.
When he sits in a corner by himself at Giants media day, you can’t tell. He looks ordinary. A typical 6-foot-1, 185-pound man with thinning brown hair. The type you see every day. Certainly not a major leaguer. Maybe a bat boy, or the guy who takes your blood pressure before you meet the doctor.
In the corner, Venditte keeps his head down and browses through his phone with his right hand. He can’t do much with his left. He’s right-handed.
Except when he pitches.
On the mound, he’s not ordinary. He’s a switch-pitcher — the only one in the major leagues. The second one since 1894. He’s Right-handed Pat and Left-handed Pat. The 33-year-old reliever throws with both arms.
He signed a one-year, $585,000 contract with the Giants this offseason.
“I am two different guys out there,” Venditte said in a soothing, quiet voice. “There are two different mentalities. The pitch grips are different. I even have a couple different pitches right-handed compared to left. So, when I switch hands, I step off the mound for a second, think about what I’m trying do, and then reload into my left-handed delivery or my right-handed delivery.”
This is the story of the two Vendittes:
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I wonder if Venditte could alternate arms between pitches.
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He is the perfect pitcher to counter the switch hitter.
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That 85 MPH fastball may be problematic tho……
The Giants have-
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Signed P Pat Venditte
Acquired INF Breyvic Valera
Signed LHP Will smith to a one year contract.
Signed LHP Derek Holland to a one year contract.
Signed LHP Drew Pomeranz to a one year contract.
Designated OF Mike Gerber for assignment.
Sent RHP Derek Law to Sacramento
Claimed OF John Andreoili and designated him to assignment.
Signed C Rene Rivera.
Signed C Steven Vogt
Claimed Jose Lopez from Cincy.
Designated LHP Josh Osich for assignment.
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Does not look too impressive so far. Farhan needs to step up his game.
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Hope that going cheap does not produce cheap results.
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It will for at least one season but hope springs eternal. Rebuilding in baseball can take even longer than football. We need to give the new guy at least 3 seasons.
Old Coach, I sure hope it does not, but I also concede there are a lot of contracts that need to be taken care of.
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It was unfortunate to see Cueto and Samardzija become injured. I hope some new pitchers can fill their shoes.
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The Giants need to find some bats in the outfield. Harper and Kris Davis would be ideal, but do not know if Farhan can pull it off.
This being a Giants post, I wish to honor Bruce Bochy for his stellar leadership of the San Francisco Giants. He has been a class act throughout his career and brought great joy to to us long suffering fans.
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Those 3 WS victories cemented his place in Cooperstown.
Since Bruce Bochy has decided to retire after this last season, I hope Farhan Zaidi will give him all the tools to succeed.
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Farhan should sign Bryce Harper, and hopefully, Bochy can go out on high note. Sounds like the Giants are still in the running for Harper, so they should be bold, and go for it.